Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Mongomery

⭐ 10.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

The very last novel I reviewed I said I didn't love books that are long and meandering without a solid plot. Then I went ahead and picked up a book which is probably the most famous in this genre. I said at the time that I had to really like the writing style to be able to get through a book like this, and, well, I really liked the writing style.

Indeed, I daresay I loved it. I think if I was granted one wish, I would ask for the ability to write just like L.M. Montgomery. There is so much joy and winsomeness and cheer in this book. Nothing pleased me more than when Anne starts telling Marilla a story, and then you flip the page and see that it goes on for two more pages with unbroken paragraphs. She absolutely killed me. I would laugh out loud while reading on the bus as she told Diana about her dream of nursing her back to health only to fall ill and die and be mourned by the people of Avonlea. It really is maybe the funniest book I can remember reading.

I think the reason it took me so long to read this book is because nobody told me that this is actually Lord of the Rings if Frodo had been able to live peacefully in the Shire. It's all small-town people and their squabbles and occasional mischief and petty disagreements. Anne is Frodo and Diana is Sam and Marilla is queer old Bilbo and Rachel Lynde is Ted Sanyman and Josie Pye is Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. This book is pure, unadulterated joy at every turn and I could read them forever (and lucky for me, there is a hundred more).

I was quite sad towards the end when everyone was growing up and I, like Marilla, feared I was losing my Anne to the drudgery of adulthood. In fact, there was a fleeting moment where I thought I might not give this book a ten. But then the final few chapters paid off everything in such a powerful way that I actually had to try VERY hard to not weep in public on my way to work. For small people with little worldly consequence, the impression they made on me in that moment was as impactful as anything I've read.

I've begun thinking this book might have a place in my all-time top ten, and it indeed would look odd among books like Return of the King and the Witcher. And yet there it is. Anne has won me over just like she did Marilla and Mrs. Barry.

I wanted to say which characters I loved the most but it really is hard because they are all my babies now. But I will say that the movies made me hate Rachel, yet here I probably found her character the most amusing. Otherwise, I love them all equally. But I love Matthew the most equally.